<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Called By The Fire</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Called by fire blazing in leaves,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> wandering like Aengus into the beauty,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">ambling a dappled circle,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">tracing the cycle of my life.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Monkey mind names them:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Maidenhair, turkey, spicebush.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Sink into the beauty:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Awesome, fantastic, magnificent.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Words not enough.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Deeper to sounds, a protolanguage </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of feeling.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">No mediation: ooh! gasp! Aaahhhh!</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Finally pure awe, basking in stillness.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">40 years in this place,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">once, all enthusiasm and ideas,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">so much to do, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">time seemingly unlimited.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Now, in my own autumn,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">slowly trodding a leafy Persian carpet of gold,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">red grace notes ascatter, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I see my whole life around me.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Past and future - together.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Saplings abound -</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Maple, hickory, beech.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Land becomes its true self,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hidden so long under ax and plow.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Nut to tree,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">surging through leaf mold,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">life rising from death.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Fallen white oak,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">leaves curled brown,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on its path of return </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to the nurturing earth.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Surrendering wholly to source,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">as I will do in time.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Compost and foxfire, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a fading glow,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">lighting a path for those to come.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Alan Cohen</p></div></div></body></html>